1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to football training dummies and pads, and more particularly to a hand-held football training pad for teaching offensive linemen proper hand and arm positioning and blocking techniques.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
In the game of football, as played in the United States, the ball is advanced downfield by a team playing offense, which is accomplished by either by running or the offensive passing. In both cases, the offensive lineman is charged with protecting the ball carrier or the passer. In a running play, the duties of an offensive lineman are to charge forward to trap, block or tackle a designated defensive player. In a passing situation, the duty of the offensive lineman is to hold at bay a charging defensive lineman for a sufficient length of time to enable the passer to locate and throw the football to his designated receiver. Typically, the offensive lineman, in a passing situation, adopts a braced stance and keeping the head between the defender and the direction of the play, comes off the line of scrimmage in a low trajectory at full speed, and makes explosive contact with a defender, known as the “punch”. At the final step before contact with the defender, the offensive lineman constricts his closed hands and elbows tight into the torso and uncoils into the defender extending open hands to the point of locking the elbows. The arms and hands must remain inside the framework of the defensive lineman, typically inside the opponent's shoulders preferably to each outer side of the defenders jersey numbers, thumbs in or down.
Often, the offensive lineman will come off the line of scrimmage and miss the defensive player with either his right or left hand on the punch. After contact, the offensive lineman may slowly retreat, using either body blocks or his hands to hold back the charging defensive lineman, in order to give the passer time to locate and throw the football to the intended receiver. This is called pass blocking.
A number of training or blocking machines have been developed over the years to assist teaching defensive lineman how to effectively charge the offensive lineman. Most of these machines comprise a tackling dummy mounted on a skid or sled or anchored to the ground. There are several of patents that disclose sled or skid mounted tackling devices for teaching offensive lineman proper blocking techniques.
Moran, U.S. Pat. No. 3,329,428 discloses a skid-mounted cylindrical impact bag which simulates a single charge of a defensive lineman.
Pillard, U.S. Pat. No. 3,514,105 discloses a sled-mounted generally rectangular contoured dummy that simulates a side stepping defensive lineman.
Smith, U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,670 discloses a sled-mounted generally rectangular blocking pad for simulating a torso of an on-rushing defensive lineman attached to the extending end of a telescoping ram assembly and a thrust bar attached to the telescoping ram assembly for imparting thrust forces to selectively extend or retract the telescoping ram assembly to simulate the rush of a defensive lineman. The pad can be rotated 90 degrees to simulate a torso of a football player attempting a cut block.
There are also several of patents that disclose portable hand-held blocking pads or dummies for training football players in various blocking techniques.
Gilman, U.S. Pat. No. 2,526,217 discloses a hand-held shield-like blocking pad having a pair of handles stitched to the rear of the pad which is carried by defensive players during football scrimmage to protect the players against injury.
Logan, U.S. Pat. No. 2,574,046 discloses an inflatable hand-held dummy having a generally oval configuration with a concave surface on one side.
Davis et al, U.S. Pat. No. 2,994,534 discloses an inflatable hand-held dummy having a generally oval configuration with a wider upper portion for simulating a torso of an opposing player and a central opening for receiving the helmet in practicing head blocking maneuvers.
Rosenfeld, U.S. Pat. No. 3,396,969 discloses a hand-held dummy having a generally rectangular configuration with a square cross section with pairs of hand grips on adjacent sides near opposite ends whereby the dummy may be used with either end uppermost to divide wear in use between two of the sides.
None of these devices adequately train the offensive lineman in the proper hand placement for an offensive lineman to engage a defensive lineman, and give the realistic feel of a correct offensive grip and blocking maneuvers and simulate the repeated and extended charges of a defensive lineman to train the offensive lineman in techniques for simultaneously retreating and reblocking a charging defensive lineman.
The present invention is distinguished over the prior art in general, and these patents in particular, by a hand-held offensive lineman training pad formed of a resilient inner pad and a close fitting outer cover that has a generally T-shaped tapered configuration with flat front and back sides and a generally rectangular cross section. The generally T-shaped pad has a relatively wide upper portion and an elongate lower portion having opposed lateral sides that taper downward and angularly inward and terminate at a flat bottom end to simulate the framework of the upper torso of a defensive lineman with the wider upper portion simulating the shoulder pads of the defensive lineman. A pair of shallow generally rectangular recessed pockets on each of the elongate lateral sides of the pad receive the fingertips of the offensive lineman and approximate the proper hand placement for an offensive lineman to engage a defensive lineman. The pad is effective in training an offensive lineman in proper hand placement and executing various blocking maneuvers.